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This article describes chemically modified polyaniline and graphene (PANI/GP) composite nanofibers prepared by self-assembly process using oxidative polymerization of aniline monomer and graphene in the presence of a solution containing poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic acid) (PMVEA). Characterization of the composite nanofibers was carried out by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM images revealed the size of the PANI nanofibers ranged from 90 to 360 nm in diameter and was greatly influenced by the proportion of PMVEA and graphene. The composite nanofibers with an immobilized DNA probe were used for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by using an electrochemical technique. A photochemical indicator, methylene blue (MB) was used to monitor the hybridization of target DNA by using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) method. The detection range of DNA biosensor was obtained from of 10−6–10−9 M with the detection limit of 7.853 × 10−7 M under optimum conditions. The results show that the composite nanofibers have a great potential in a range of applications for DNA sensors.

Introduction: The outbreak of COVID- 19 has caused a significant impact on the world’s population. This study examines the impact of COVID-19 on the level of depression, anxiety and stress among students of National Defence University of Malaysia (NDUM), and to assess coping styles during this critical time. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted during the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) on May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. DASS-21 and BRIEF COPE were used as the assessment toolsfor this study. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Independent T-test and One-way ANOVA with comparisons of multiple variables using post-hoc Tukey’s test. Results: A total of 603 participants were included in the study. Respondents’ mean age was 21.06 ± 1.75. They consisted of 52.6% male, 86.9% Malays and 76.9% non-cadets. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress were 51.9%, 46.9% and 18.7% respectively. Female, those who are from the Language Centre and non-cadet students, showed a statistically significant higher score of depression, anxiety and stress. A high-stress score was seen in Bachelor degree students compared to Foundation students. Those with no financial sponsorship showed the highest anxiety score. The most common coping style used among the respondents was religion and the least is substance abuse. Conclusion: This study has identified the risk groups for developing psychological distress during times of crisis. Thus, there is an urgent need to address the concern on mental health and provide a structured support for them. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 22 No. 01 January’23 Page : 105-114

Purpose This study aims to investigate the potential influence of organisational responses to conflicting institutional demands towards barriers to environmental performance (EP) monitoring of government green procurement (GGP) in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The paper used a qualitative methodology based on a single case study involving policymakers, procurement officials and a monitoring authority. The study data were analysed drawing on the perspectives of organisational responses to conflicting institutional demands. Findings The three key challenges that hindered EP monitoring of GGP in Malaysia were policy irregularities, knowledge asymmetry and communication gaps. These challenges are likely the consequences of the acquiescence, avoidance, compromise and defiance strategies commonly used in dealing with the institutional complexity faced in Malaysia’s public policy arena. Practical implications The government, at various institutional levels, may benefit from the theoretical and empirical findings of the case study. Knowledge of barriers can facilitate the policymakers in designing the monitoring process meticulously. Meanwhile, awareness of the influence of organisational responses to institutional complexity on GGP barriers can help redefine field actors’ interests and values in improving policy monitoring. In addition, reporting of the monitored EP bridges the institutional gaps between the macro-state level and the micro-organisational level of GGP, besides increasing the government’s transparency and accountability regarding green procurement. Social implications Fewer challenges in the EP monitoring system contribute to an improved GGP policy. In turn, an improved policy may enhance public health and reduce environmental degradation. Originality/value The study contributes to the GGP monitoring and institutional theory by showing that barriers to EP monitoring culminate from the organisational response to the institutional demands faced in the policy environment. The authors argue that this is one of the few studies that have examined the barriers to EP monitoring of public policy explicated in the context of organisational responses to institutional demands.

Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) is a variant of vehicle routing problem (VRP) in which vehicles with restricted capacities required to pick-up or deliver at various locations. The main constraint in CVRP is to pick-up or deliver the goods for the least cost without exceeding the vehicle capacity. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to minimize the distance travelled by vehicles. Hence, this paper proposed to use Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) with different heuristic strategies to optimize the distance travelled by the vehicles while not exceeding the vehicle capacities. Swapping, reversion, and insertion are the heuristic strategies used to examine the efficiency of neighbour creations in ACO. Christofides data sets are utilized in this paper to experiment on the solution construction in ACO with different heuristic strategies. The results showed that the use of ACO is efficient using the swap, reverse and insert strategies for distance minimization but there are possibilities for the vehicle visiting the same customer more than once. Meanwhile ACO with random combination with swap, reverse and insert are capable to solve CVRP without any possibilities for the vehicle visiting the same customer more than once.

Purpose This study aims to explore the challenges of getting halal certification for restaurants in north-eastern Thailand. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative research approach was adopted to analyse the collected data. The research procedures and the interview questions were examined by the Ethics Committee for Research involving human subjects. In total, 10 restaurant owners were interviewed. Then, the interviews were transcribed, coded and grouped by using thematic analysis while the ATLAS ti. software was used for qualitative data analysis. The theme was finalised by three intercoder agreements. Findings The three challenges of obtaining halal certification among restaurants in north-eastern Thailand were the complicated process of getting halal certification, lack of restaurant owner commitment and high halal certification fee. Research limitations/implications The number of halal-certified restaurants are limited. Some restaurants refused to renew halal status but their information is still displayed on the halal authority website. Not only the number of restaurants but also time-limited. Further, a quantitative phase for prioritising was suggested. Practical implications The study can be beneficial to the halal authority and business holders as the two main stakeholders. The findings can be used to plan or develop halal strategies to increase the quality of halal restaurants. As informants mentioned common challenges, the findings could be applied as guidelines for a new business holder keen on halal implementation. Originality/value This research demonstrated the challenges of halal certification in a non-Muslim country, focussing on the north-eastern region of Thailand. The findings will add value to a potential business area. Therefore, the highlighted challenges could provide a novelty and be useful for Muslim marketing.

STEM education is important for protecting the environment. However, efforts to educate industries on environmental protection should be made to ensure sustainable practices within those industries. This study aims to report on efforts made to educate an industry on environmental protection using the case of wastewater treatment technology through a knowledge transfer programme (KTP) by a university. The KTP was conducted to expose industrial players, who were the research participants, to the issue of protecting the environment through the introduction of new technology in treating industrial wastewater. The main content included sharing knowledge on current bio-based technology and how the industry may be able to adopt the new technology for environmental protection. The participants were also exposed to a national study on the need for new technology in wastewater treatment. After the programme, they assessed the programme’s effectiveness and the outcomes. The key finding is that the KTP has increased the participants’ knowledge and awareness of the importance of adopting new technology in wastewater treatment as a means for achieving sustainable cities and communities. This effort is critical to ensuring the success of translating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among industries.

A 48-year-old female with long-standing type 2 diabetes mellitus presented with acute onset of bilateral lower limb weakness. She had been previously well and denied any constitutional symptoms. Physical examinations revealed generalized lower limb weakness with bilateral lower limb hypotonia, power of 0 over 5, reduced deep tendon reflexes, and loss of peripheral sensations up to the level of T10. Upper limb functions were normal. Rectal examination showed a lax anal tone and reduced anal grip. Blood investigations showed elevated serum alkaline phosphatase, corrected serum calcium, and parathyroid hormone. Magnetic resonance imaging of the spine revealed an expansile mass at the posterior element of the ninth thoracic vertebrae, causing spinal compression with possible impingement of the right T9 exiting spinal nerve. An urgent surgical decompression and tissue biopsy were performed for stabilization of the spine. Intraoperative findings included spinal cord compression secondary to an epidural tumour mass extending from T9 to T10 disc levels. Histopathological analysis showed a giant cell tumour of the spine. A 99mTc Sestamibi-SPECT parathyroid scintigraphy showed an ectopic parathyroid adenoma at the left suprasternal region. A diagnosis of Brown tumour secondary to ectopic parathyroid adenoma was made. She underwent an exploratory parathyroidectomy procedure with removal of the ectopic parathyroid gland, which resulted in a normalization of the serum calcium and parathyroid hormone. Unfortunately, her lower limb functions did not return to normal, and she remained paraplegic at 6 months postoperatively.

Purpose The study aims to identify the evoked “sense of place” that the campus community attributes to a watershed area in a Malaysian higher institution, aiming to enhance their participation in watershed conservation. Central to this objective is the incorporation of the concept of a watershed as a place, serving as the conceptual framework for analysis. Design/methodology/approach This case study explores an urban lake at Universiti Malaya, Malaysia’s oldest higher institution. It uses diverse qualitative data, including document analysis, semi-structured interviews, vox-pop interviews and a co-production workshop, to generate place-based narratives reflecting the meanings and values that staff and students associate with the watershed. Thematic analysis is then applied for further examination. Findings The data patterns reveal shared sense of place responses on: campus as a historic place, student, staff and campus identity, in-place learning experiences and interweaving of community well-being and watershed health. Recommendations advocate translating these narratives into campus sustainability communication through empirical findings and continuous co-production of knowledge and strategies with the campus community. Practical implications The research findings play a critical role in influencing sustainable campus planning and community inclusion by integrating place-based frameworks into sustainable development and watershed management. The study recommends the process of identifying place-based narratives with implications for the development of sustainability communication in a campus environment. Originality/value This paper contributes both conceptually and empirically to the sustainable management of a campus watershed area through place-based thinking. It outlines a process for enhancing campus sustainability communication strategies.

Universities today have increasingly introduced and integrated sustainability elements into their curriculum to nurture students into potential future leaders for sustainability. Although various types of pedagogies have been introduced for the development of sustainability competencies in students, not many studies have investigated engagement in campus sustainability activities as a pedagogical tool. In that respect, this paper attempts to bridge the gap by investigating the potential of engagement as a pedagogical tool and how it can help in developing sustainability competencies in students. The investigation was conducted at three local universities in Malaysia, where purposive sampling was employed for the selection of data. This sampling technique is capable of carefully selecting respondents that are relevant to this investigation given the number of students involved in campus sustainability activities is small in comparison to the total student population. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 students who have been identified from the purposive sampling and considered as the most active and proactive volunteers in their respective campus sustainability activities. Respondents shared their experiences where ‘interpersonal competency’ was emphasised as the most developed and essential competency for them throughout their engagement. Another interesting finding is the importance of ‘passion’. Having a strong sense of enthusiasm for sustainability not only serves as a push factor that drives these students to put their efforts into achieving the objectives of the campus sustainability activities they are involved in but also acts as an important catalyst to the development of sustainability competencies as a whole.

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are a major source of dietary sugar, and their consumption is on the rise among children and adolescents. Excessive sugar intake is a significant contributor to overweight, obesity, and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The consumption of SSBs, particularly that of children and adolescents, has been of interest as of late, as they are implicated in affecting body weight status. Thus, the goal of this study was to determine the predictive criterion-related validity of the SSB questionnaire that was administered to children and adolescents to assess their SSB and non-SSB intake. A nationwide cross-sectional study involving 5211 respondents aged 7-17 years old and their parents was conducted. The self-administered Malay questionnaire was distributed to collect information on socioeconomic background, the frequency of eating out at restaurants or other food premises, the availability of SSBs at home, and SSB consumption patterns of children and adolescents within a week. The predictive criterion-related validity was determined by using six hypotheses that can differentiate between two independent sample means of SSB consumption based on age, gender, locality, monthly household income, frequency of eating out at restaurants or other food premises, and availability of SSBs at home. The independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to conduct the validation process. Five out of six hypotheses were accepted Significant mean differences were observed between sociodemographic factors, such as age ( =-10.56, <0.001), localities ( =-5.37, <0.001), monthly household income ( =26.83, <0.001), and SSB consumption. Behavioural factors, including eating out at restaurants or other food premises ( =9.93, <0.001) and environmental factors such as the availability of SSBs at home ( =136.24, <0.001) also showed a significant difference with SSB consumption. The SSB questionnaire demonstrated the ability to differentiate between groups. Thus, this SSB questionnaire appears to be valid to measure the SSB consumption of children and adolescents.